Book Review- God Is A Gamer

TITLE : God Is A Gamer
AUTHOR : Ravi Subramanian
PUBLISHER : Penguin Books
GENRE : Fiction (Thriller)

THE AUTHOR

An alumnus of IIM Bangalore, Ravi Subramanian has five bestsellers (novels) to his credit. “God is a Gamer’ is his sixth addition to the list. While his debut novel ‘If God was a Banker’ won him the 2008 Golden Quill Readers’ Choice Award, ‘The Incredible Banker’ saw him win the 2011 Economist- Crossword Book Award in the ‘Popular Category.’ He won the Crossword Book Award for ‘The Bankster’ in 2012. His experience as a banker is very much evident in his writings.

THE BOOK

Blurb

What happens when you cross gamer, banker, politician and terrorist with virtual money?

From the bestselling author of If God Was a Banker comes the first ever bitcoin thriller. God Is a Gamer is a world where money means nothing, martyrs are villains, predators are prey, assassination is taught by the ancient Greeks, and nothing is as it seems.

Moving from Washington’s Congress to Delhi’s finance ministry, the beaches of Goa to the corporate boardrooms of Mumbai, this is Ravi Subramanian’s most gripping novel yet.

WHAT I FELT ABOUT THE BOOK

Highs

The Cover : Attractive. The silhouette of a man with the White House in the backdrop, the title of the book engraved in bold golden letters with the ‘O’ in God taking the shape of a coin adds a touch of mystery. The question ‘Is revenge a crime,’ further accentuates the mystery.

The Title : “God Is A Gamer” is indeed catchy & appealing and the story does justice to the name. As the story unfolds we see how destiny can shake even the strongest, how all our calculations and ambitions can go awry in just a few seconds. We realize that man is after all just a pawn in the hands of some supreme power and that the power.

Story-line : Interesting, intriguing, unique and well researched. Now why do I say it is unique? Because, this is the first thriller involving the much touted virtual currency of the future, the bitcoins. Want to know more about bitcoin. Just look in here

The plot is tight and has the reader hooked from the very start. The dark, dangerous alleys of banking, gaming and politics are covered with finesse. As one turns the pages of the book, one finds a drama not far from reality, unfold. The scenes pendulate between New Delhi and the US. The reader can easily relate to some of the characters and why not? They are very much live.

The story starts off with a prologue where we find the Heads of two giants of the plastic currency ( plastic money) world i.e. Visa and Master card seeking the intervention of an American Senator to stop Russia from going ahead with the NPCS ( National Payment Card System) a system that is sure to see their revenues take a dip. This is followed up with the Wikileaks episode one year later in 2010 and the US Government going into a damage control- cum- defensive mode. These add a touch of credibility and relevance to the story that follows. As the story progresses, the author takes us on a virtual tour of the world of gaming, technology, bitcoin transactions, phising, manipulation, heist, deceit, corruption, drug peddling, plotting, planning and murder. Romance too finds a place here. However, all along I kept wondering why, “Is revenge a crime?” And then the end threw up some surprises. The reason behind the question was revealed and I too asked myself “Is revenge a crime?” For me it was, revenge is not a crime as long as you take it following proper legal recourse else what is the difference between you and the original culprit. Apart from that in your enthusiasm to take revenge you may also land up hurting an innocent just as Swami is in the plot.

In short this is a thriller full of twists and turns, one interspersed with some nail- biting moments keeping the reader on the edge till the very end.

Language and Characterization : Language is simple, lucid and crisp. But for the characters of Swami and Sundeep the author has done a fine job with the rest. The author has etched them well with all their imperfections.

Pace and Length : The pace of the story was fine for me. There are nail- biting moments and moments when one can relax. The length of the chapters has been kept short. This is a plus point. Long winding sentences and chapters generally take away the sheen from a book/ story.

Lows

Characterization : I was a bit disappointed with the characters of Swami and Sundeep. I wish the author had developed them a bit more.

SO TRUE

Some quotes from the book that I must share-

“Success is not always measured in terms of dollars earned or turnover. It is measured in terms of the difference you have made to the people around you.”

“The problem with theorizing on the basis of incomplete facts is that we end up twisting the facts to suit the theory.”

WRAPPING UP

Recommendation & Rating: If you are looking for an absolute thriller that not only entertains but also imparts some knowledge then this is for you. Overall a truly interesting read I give this book 4 on a scale of 5.

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BUYING LINKS

amazon.in II II flipkart II crossword II Penguin India II uRead.com

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